Promoter Schaefer takes on ‘holiday’ boxing
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
On Easter Sunday, Richard Schaefer was in Las Vegas a day after the forgettable Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. rematch.
A married father of three boys, ages 12 to 15, Schaefer had to handle his work assignment delicately around his wife of 19 years, Lilia, who understandably threw out cautionary words about the priorities of time with the family and Easter egg hunting and the need to get home instead of lingering in a Las Vegas hotel.
‘I heard all that, about the kids getting older, how before long, you know, they’re not going to be here,’ Schaefer said.
The balancing act is about to get renewed for Schaefer, chief executive of Golden Boy Promotions, who now finds his company involved in an ambitious slate of fight cards starting Sept. 18 (Yom Kippur) through the week before Christmas.
‘I’ve been married 19 years, and I want to make it to 20,’ Schaefer said.
Following the Sept. 18 card pitting Shane Mosley against Sergio Mora in a super-welterweight bout at Staples Center, Golden Boy is scripting a schedule that will include fights on Nov. 6, Nov. 27, Dec. 11 and Dec. 18, with a possible Dec. 4 bantamweight title tournament featuring Golden Boy’s Abner Mares.
The Nov. 6 card is an HBO ‘Boxing After Dark’ show in Austin, Texas, that will star, in separate fights, Gilroy’s Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero and middleweight James Kirkland, in his comeback fight after a prison release for a Texas gun crime.
Due to some scheduling conflicts, Schaefer has found that his Thanksgiving is close to being another Las Vegas event because Juan Manuel Marquez will defend his lightweight title there against Michael Katsidis on Nov. 27.
‘This year, [the rotating family Thanksgiving] is at my house,’ Schaefer said. ‘With all the holiday traffic, I risk getting stuck in an airport if I do the news conference Wednesday, fly home, then fly back to Vegas. This could be my own case of ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles.’ ‘
Schaefer’s holiday season will continue at a hectic pace, as he’s crafting a Dec. 11 junior-welterweight bout between champion Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana, either in England or the U.S., and a Dec. 18 return bout for Hopkins versus light-heavyweight Jean Pascal in Canada.
‘I’m thankful I have nothing on Christmas Eve,’ Schaefer said.
Except maybe divorce papers.
‘Don’t say that,’ Schaefer said. ‘My wife is a wonderful person.’
-- Lance Pugmire
